{"id":2343,"date":"2020-11-30T12:46:39","date_gmt":"2020-11-30T19:46:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/belzglobal.com\/ministry\/?p=2343"},"modified":"2025-12-23T13:01:58","modified_gmt":"2025-12-23T20:01:58","slug":"micahs-message","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/belzglobal.com\/ministry\/2020\/11\/30\/micahs-message\/","title":{"rendered":"Micah&#8217;s Message"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Late last week in my personal devotions I read the book of Micah and noted some interesting elements. As with most of the Old Testament prophets, there were strong words of impending judgment upon wayward Israel and other nations. Apparently preaching had degraded in Israel to the point where it was common to simply preach what people wanted to hear, &#8220;<span id=\"en-ESV-22607\" class=\"text Mic-2-11\">If a man should go about and\u00a0utter wind and lies,\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"indent-1\"><span class=\"text Mic-2-11\">saying, &#8216;I will preach to you\u00a0of wine and strong drink,&#8217;\u00a0<\/span><\/span><span class=\"indent-1\"><span class=\"text Mic-2-11\">he would be the preacher for this people!&#8221; (2:11) And so Micah offers a call to repentance, &#8220;<span id=\"en-ESV-22617\" class=\"text Mic-3-8\">But as for me,\u00a0I am filled with power,\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"text Mic-3-8\">with the Spirit of the\u00a0<span class=\"small-caps\">Lord<\/span>,\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"text Mic-3-8\">and with justice and might,\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"text Mic-3-8\">to declare to Jacob\u00a0his transgression\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"text Mic-3-8\">and to Israel his sin.&#8221; (3:8)<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>God&#8217;s heart for the nations comes out in chapter 4 verse 2, &#8220;<span class=\"indent-1\"><span id=\"en-ESV-22623\" class=\"text Mic-4-2\">and many nations shall come, and say: &#8216;<\/span><\/span><span class=\"text Mic-4-2\">Come, let us go up to the mountain of the\u00a0<span class=\"small-caps\">Lord<\/span>,\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"indent-1\"><span class=\"text Mic-4-2\">to the house of the God of Jacob,\u00a0<\/span><\/span><span class=\"text Mic-4-2\">that he may teach us his ways\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"indent-1\"><span class=\"text Mic-4-2\">and that we may walk in his paths.'&#8221; So God promises that He will rescue His people, and one from the least of the tribes (Benjamin) will be sent to rule Israel (spiritually, a Messianic prophecy) (cf. 5:2-4).\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Then, in one of my favorite sections (6:6-8), the prophet poses a series of questions for how he (and his nation), although they are rightfully charged by God as being sinful and rebellious, can approach a holy God.\u00a0<span class=\"text Mic-6-6\">\u201cWith what shall I come before the\u00a0<span class=\"small-caps\">Lord<\/span>,\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"indent-1\"><span class=\"text Mic-6-6\">and bow myself before\u00a0God on high?&#8221;\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Each alternative escalates the sacrifice:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span class=\"text Mic-6-6\">&#8220;Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"indent-1\"><span class=\"text Mic-6-6\">with calves a year old?<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span id=\"en-ESV-22656\" class=\"text Mic-6-7\">Will the\u00a0<span class=\"small-caps\">Lord<\/span>\u00a0be pleased with thousands of rams,\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"indent-1\"><span class=\"text Mic-6-7\">with ten thousands of rivers of oil?\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span class=\"text Mic-6-7\">Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"indent-1\"><span class=\"text Mic-6-7\">the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>All of these fall short of satisfying God. So also today, God is less concerned with outward religious manifestations than he is with a fully-surrendered whole life devoted to Him. Then, God&#8217;s will is made known:\u00a0 &#8220;H<span id=\"en-ESV-22657\" class=\"text Mic-6-8\">e has told you, O man, what is good;\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"indent-1\"><span class=\"text Mic-6-8\">and\u00a0what does the\u00a0<span class=\"small-caps\">Lord<\/span>\u00a0require of you\u00a0<\/span><\/span><span class=\"text Mic-6-8\">but to do justice, and to love kindness,\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"indent-1\"><span class=\"text Mic-6-8\">and to\u00a0walk humbly with your God?&#8221;<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Three things God desires, hallmarks of a life that honors God:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Doing justice &#8211; acting in a way that is right, in keeping with God&#8217;s commands, externally honoring God.<\/li>\n<li>Loving kindness &#8211; valuing and embracing kindness, steadfast love, grace, mercy, the beautiful Hebrew word &#8220;hesed,&#8221; internally honoring God.<\/li>\n<li>Walking humbly with your God &#8211; wrapping both external and internal elements together, joyfully submitted to the Lord in every aspect of life.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The book concludes with words of hope, for despite the fact that Israel, and we, stand guilty, shameful, and unclean before a righteous God, yet He is also a God rich in mercy, grace, compassion, and forgiveness. &#8220;<span class=\"text Mic-7-18\">Who is a God like you,\u00a0pardoning iniquity\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"indent-1\"><span class=\"text Mic-7-18\">and passing over transgression\u00a0<\/span><\/span><span class=\"indent-1\"><span class=\"text Mic-7-18\">for the remnant of his inheritance?\u00a0<\/span><\/span><span class=\"text Mic-7-18\">He does not retain his anger forever,\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"indent-1\"><span class=\"text Mic-7-18\">because he delights in steadfast love.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><span id=\"en-ESV-22684\" class=\"text Mic-7-19\">He will\u00a0again have compassion on us;\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"indent-1\"><span class=\"text Mic-7-19\">he will tread our iniquities underfoot.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><span class=\"text Mic-7-19\">You will cast all our sins\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"indent-1\"><span class=\"text Mic-7-19\">into the depths of the sea.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><span id=\"en-ESV-22685\" class=\"text Mic-7-20\">You will show faithfulness to Jacob\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"indent-1\"><span class=\"text Mic-7-20\">and steadfast love to Abraham,\u00a0<\/span><\/span><span class=\"text Mic-7-20\">as you have sworn to our fathers\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"indent-1\"><span class=\"text Mic-7-20\">from the days of old.&#8221; (7:18-20)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>The book of Micah is a beautiful blending of God&#8217;s righteousness and His grace, His judgment and His forgiveness. Ultimately, we know as we turn the pages of Scripture into the New Testament that God&#8217;s love was fully demonstrated through the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ. May we embrace this holy, loving God, and respond by doing what is right, loving what is kind, and humbly walking with our God.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Late last week in my personal devotions I read the book of Micah and noted some interesting elements. As with most of the Old Testament prophets, there were strong words of impending judgment upon wayward Israel and other nations. Apparently preaching had degraded in Israel to the point where it was common to simply preach &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/belzglobal.com\/ministry\/2020\/11\/30\/micahs-message\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Micah&#8217;s Message<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2343","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-devotional-thoughts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/belzglobal.com\/ministry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2343","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/belzglobal.com\/ministry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/belzglobal.com\/ministry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/belzglobal.com\/ministry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/belzglobal.com\/ministry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2343"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/belzglobal.com\/ministry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2343\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2344,"href":"https:\/\/belzglobal.com\/ministry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2343\/revisions\/2344"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/belzglobal.com\/ministry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/belzglobal.com\/ministry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/belzglobal.com\/ministry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}